family trees

[mudmonster]

Hello again,just a quick question,while doing your family trees  do you actually branch  off (no pun intended) and do the brothers  & sisters  families as well  or do you just stick to parents and back
Thanks
Mud

[Pheno]

It depends entirely on what you want to get out of it.  Maybe you just want to know your direct ancestry.

However, if you want to connect with other researchers then you need to expand your tree to include siblings of all your ancestors - they will be your cousin's ancestors.

Pheno

[g eli]

I started off by just going straight back, but I started adding siblings and their descendants when I was having difficulty with the main line. I have found tracing some of these lines very helpful as the main line person may be mentioned in births marriages and deaths and occasionally in censuses where the name has been badly transcribed or they have married.

[Zefiro]

I started off by just going straight back, but I started adding siblings and their descendants when I was having difficulty with the main line. I have found tracing some of these lines very helpful as the main line person may be mentioned in births marriages and deaths and occasionally in censuses where the name has been badly transcribed or they have married.

Truth.
Sometimes the only way to progress 'vertically' is to expand 'horizontally'.

[Erato]

Unlike the RootsChat purists, I concentrate on going wide rather than deep.  I am looking for all descendants of the ancestors who immigrated to North America.

[Jackiemh]

I have expanded my tree beyond my direct ancestors and found some very interesting things.
I think it gives you a better picture of how life was.
Jackie

[mudmonster]

Thanks to everybody on their thoughts ,I started with parents but  have spread out a bit going down all different lines
Mud

[clancam37]

Hi Mudmonster,
Looking at brothers/sidters can be rewarding particularly if they have an unusual christian name.  This unusual name may well be a family tradition going back in earlier generations.  Has been very helpful in many cases.
clancam37

Hello again,just a quick question,while doing your family trees  do you actually branch  off (no pun intended) and do the brothers  & sisters  families as well  or do you just stick to parents and back
Thanks
Mud

[ColinBignell]

My tree has over 6,800 people in it, of whom about 600 are direct ancestors. Exploring the side branches can be fascinating and is essential if you want to find your link to DNA matches. It can, however, also distract you from research on the main lines.